Bankers of the World Unite !

So what's all this fuss about banker's bonuses? - that's what I want to know!

When the Labour government came to power in 1997, it brought to an end the 13 years of Tory misrule where Thatcherism ruled and decreed that the people of this country should be empowered to go all out to achieve their ambitions in a spirit of entrepreneurial extravagence and innovation. The party that gave us the big bang and dot com boom had gone. Boom and bust economics would be no more. Things could only get better...

So what went wrong?

Well basically we fell for the marketing hype that so predominates the 21st century. Indeed it could be argued that "New Labour" was the driving force behind the new age of packaging and presentation. Certainly spin doctors like Alastair Campbell must take at least some responsibility for this phenomenom. Unfortunately, when you look carefully beneath the appealing image of the New Labour red rose, we see that underneath the fresh red petals there are just another stemful of pricks.

Despite its protestations of equal opportunity for all, Labour has actually done nothing to stem the culture of celebrity and greed that pervades our rotten society. Indeed, it has been reported that since Tony Blair left office, he has made over 6 million quid - mainly as far as I can see simply for being Tony Blair.

From personal experience, I have seen Gordon Brown as Chancellor expend vast amounts of time and energy in introducing penal new taxes for anyone self employed in this country whilst at the same time pronouncing that he wants to encourage new business and individual initiative. Labour has a pathological hatred of anyone self employed as it sees such people as being outside of the PAYE system and therefore avoiding tax. Perhaps we should remind him that the avoidance of tax is legal, whereas it is the evation of tax that is illegal. These definitions should perhaps be bourne in mind when looking at the thorny subject of MPs expenses?

The people not hated and pursued by Labour would however seem to fall into groups that are of benefit to them. Celebrities that support their party for example. Who can forget the memorable bad taste shown by Mr Blair at his Number Ten receptions in the early days of his government? Anyone recognisable who was prepared to be seen at these events was welcomed with open arms in the hope that our new PM would be seen as inclusive, hip and happening. Some of these notable celebrities have done very well in the honours lists - you know who you are...

More worrying in my opinion was the view of one such celeb who, after attending a dinner with the PM, commented that he expected the sharpest chisel in the toolbox to be his host and was rather concerned that that didn't seem to be the case. Bet he never got a gong in the New Year's honours list!

Also noticable is the growth of the Civil Service, now the home of many former self employed consultants and contractors forced out of business by Mr Brown's taxes into the haven of so called 'proper' jobs. Local Government has also grown noticably, especially in the Labour heartlands and marginal constituencies. To be fair, many of these areas were also those neglected by the Tories, presumably for the same reason - you put the public money into the areas where people vote for your party, and to hell with the rest!

So what about the bankers then I hear you say? Well, look at it this way : they all have proper jobs and are therefore caught by the PAYE system, so no escape there then. I suspect if they were self employed, it would be a different story - but they are not. Also, if the banks didn't pay these bonuses, their profits would go up and then they would spend loads of money on lawyers and tax specialists in order to avoid paying Corporation Tax. Anyone who thinks this doesn't go on should remember the fiasco of Enron not so many years ago. I think we all accept that this money is better going to the Revenue than to fat cat accountants.

I say let them carry on with their bonuses - as long as what they get up to is closely monitored - then take it all off them again with punitive tax rates. Those of you with long memories might remember the Investment Income Surcharge introduced by another Labour Chancellor called Dennis Healey to 'squeeze the rich until the pips squeek'. Now they are resurrecting this as a 'bonus tax'. Works for me!